.Darwin article causes flap in Muslim Turkey
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkish university students and teachers on Wednesday protested the removal of an article about Charles Darwin from a state-run science magazine amid concerns that secular views are under threat in the Muslim country.
News reports said Cigdem Atakuman, the editor of Science and Technology magazine, was sacked after she devoted the cover of the March issue to Darwin to mark the 150th anniversary of "The Origin of Species," his publication on evolution.
Secularists in Turkey suspect the Islamic-oriented government seeks to raise the role of religion and promote the Muslim version of creationist theory. The democratically elected government, however, has said it backs the country's secular principles.
Parliament Speaker Topkan Koksal, a member of the Islamic-rooted ruling party, said he opposed the action against the magazine by the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
"Whether you like Darwin's theory or not, whether you believe in it or not, this is another matter," he said, calling the council's decision "wrong."
The council has not commented. Turkey's main opposition party, a bastion of secularists, demanded an explanation, and dozens of university students and teachers protested outside the Council's headquarters in Ankara.
"This incident is proof that a dogmatic world view that is opposed to science dominates" the council, a group of academics from Ankara's Middle East Technical University said in a statement.
Atakuman confirmed reports that the publication was stopped at the presses and the article was removed from the issue. Newspapers printed copies of both the original issue and the new issue without the Darwin article. The subject of the new cover was global warming.
Creationists reject the theory of evolution, believing that God created all species as they are today.
MyWay
News reports said Cigdem Atakuman, the editor of Science and Technology magazine, was sacked after she devoted the cover of the March issue to Darwin to mark the 150th anniversary of "The Origin of Species," his publication on evolution.
Secularists in Turkey suspect the Islamic-oriented government seeks to raise the role of religion and promote the Muslim version of creationist theory. The democratically elected government, however, has said it backs the country's secular principles.
Parliament Speaker Topkan Koksal, a member of the Islamic-rooted ruling party, said he opposed the action against the magazine by the state-run Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
"Whether you like Darwin's theory or not, whether you believe in it or not, this is another matter," he said, calling the council's decision "wrong."
The council has not commented. Turkey's main opposition party, a bastion of secularists, demanded an explanation, and dozens of university students and teachers protested outside the Council's headquarters in Ankara.
"This incident is proof that a dogmatic world view that is opposed to science dominates" the council, a group of academics from Ankara's Middle East Technical University said in a statement.
Atakuman confirmed reports that the publication was stopped at the presses and the article was removed from the issue. Newspapers printed copies of both the original issue and the new issue without the Darwin article. The subject of the new cover was global warming.
Creationists reject the theory of evolution, believing that God created all species as they are today.
MyWay
posted by madtom at 6:30 PM
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